Matt Cutts Announces Google Panda And Penguin Algorithm Updates

Matt Cutts, has warned of an impending Panda update as early as Friday (March 15).

Speaking at the SMX West panel, Google's head of search spam also confirmed a major new Penguin algorithm update was on the way as well as confirming the firm's new link network targets for the year.

Cutts said the Penguin update this year would be particularly large and would probably be one of the more talked about Google algorithm updates of the year.

Search Engine Land believes the last major Penguin update, Penguin 3, was in October 2012, with an update in May 2012 following its launch in April 2012.

The Panda algorithm is also due for an update very soon, with Friday (March 15) or Monday (March 18) earmarked in as potential dates. The first Panda update of this year was rolled out in back January. It celebrated its second anniversary in February.

Panda is a Google algorithm designed with the purpose of cutting down on the number of low quality websites and downranking firms that use illicit forms of Internet marketing in order to get ranked higher.

With a lot of SEO focussed on getting ranked on page one of Google's search results, the firm has used Panda as a way to encourage digital marketing firms to be more ethical in their SEO policies.

Cutts also confirmed the targeting of link networks would continue in 2013, with Google already having targeted one a matter of weeks ago.